


Mr. President

by KawaiiBoushi



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 19:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13887450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiBoushi/pseuds/KawaiiBoushi
Summary: Pandoria has a confession, Zeke has an idea.





	Mr. President

 It wasn’t that they never had close calls. Between Zeke’s atrocious luck and his attraction to bizarre situations, it seemed he and his Blade were always narrowly escaping some near-death experience or another. But there was always some way to spin those escapades into exhilarating tales of adventure that they would eagerly reenact at the drop of a hat, whether they had a willing audience or not. It was easy to forget the true danger of such larger-than-life moments.

What was significantly more rare, especially now that they travelled in a group with a talented healer, was that they simply…almost died. No glamour, no drama. Just the cold, anticlimactic terror of knowing you were moments away from breathing your last. Perhaps Rex had overestimated their abilities today, or underestimated the mob of Tirkin they had been dispatched to take out. Whatever the reason, Pandoria had only been able to watch in horror as Nia struggled to stabilize Zeke and Rex when she could barely stand herself, before they were forced to turn tail and run for the time being.

Stinging from the resounding defeat, they regrouped at the nearest inn for the evening, though none were more shaken than Pandoria. Even as her friends started to laugh the day’s events off over a warm meal, she couldn’t keep the memory of the time she had nearly lost Zeke for good from playing over and over in her mind. It made her feel like she had to do… _something_. That feeling lingered throughout the night, though the prospect of what that something was scared her almost as much as reverting back to her core crystal. All the emotions that had been growing inside her for almost as long as she had been Zeke’s Blade were suddenly fighting to be let out, desperate for reciprocation. The idea that their lives could slip by without ever having that chance was too much to bear, and so as the team began to return to their respective rooms, Pandoria swore to herself that tonight was the night that she would finally take initiative.

This, however, didn’t stop her from spending far longer in the shower than she normally would, trying to postpone the baring of her soul by even a few more minutes. Once she had run out of excuses not to do so, she finally emerged from the bathroom, clad in loose pajamas and hair already mostly dry. Zeke had swapped his pants for sweats and was reclining on his bed, absorbed in an adventure novel he had picked up in Fonsa Myma. It made Pandoria smile, how expressive he was, reacting to whatever was happening in the story as if it were real life. (And she absolutely was _not_ admiring his arms. Or his chest.)

Enthralled as he was, Zeke didn’t seem to notice Pandoria at all as she crossed the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. “My prince.” She tugged anxiously at the hem of her shirt. “May I have a word?”

"What’s up, Pandy?” Glancing up from his book, Zeke’s face darkened in concern when he noticed his Blade’s demeanor. He dog-eared the page he was on and sat up straight to face her. “Something wrong?”

She cleared her throat. “Not…exactly. I – I need to tell you something.”

“I’m all ears,” he replied with a seriousness most others would call uncharacteristic.

“Right. Listen. I…” Pandoria closed her eyes, too scared to watch his reaction. There was a part of her screaming that this was a terrible idea, that she was about to ruin everything. Even still, she knew the lingering _what if_ would haunt her for the rest of this life if she never confessed. So, before she could lose her nerve, she took a deep breath and spilled out, “I love you. Pr-…Zeke. I…I have for a while, honestly. And I know I’m not…I’m just a Blade, and you should be with someone befitting your status, but I – I felt like I was going to explode, holding it in all this time. I just needed you to know, at least. So. Y-yeah.” Eyes still screwed shut, she balled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking.

"Pandoria.” The way Zeke said her full name, thick with emotion, caused her to open her eyes despite herself, hesitantly catching his gaze. The intensity she found there was startling. “You’ve never been _just_ a Blade to me. You’re my best friend, my partner in crime, my…my co-turtle-parent.” This prompted a nervous giggle from Pandoria, and he smiled. “There's no one else I would rather be exiled with. Do you really think I want to be married off to one of those stuffy, power-hungry bats my old man kept trying to pair me up with?”

"But…” Pandoria shook her head, trying not to get her hopes up. “You’ll be expected to carry on the bloodline someday. Blades and humans can’t –”

Rolling his eyes, Zeke groaned. “To hell with the bloodline! Turters can take over when we kick the bucket for all I care. I don’t want to turn into my father. I don’t want to marry for the sake of some title that isn’t worth a damn when our country’s on the verge of collapse. Let it end with me, I’ll – I’ll set up a democracy, maybe our people will have a fighting chance if we actually give them a voice. Whatever happens, I don’t want anyone but you by my side, and that’s never going to change.”

Holding one hand to her chest, Pandoria looked down. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Zeke cared for her, of course, but the best she could have asked for was that he would gently turn her down and they would pretend this had never happened. She could hardly believe what she was hearing now. Quietly, she said, “This is why I love you, Zeke. Always thinking of others, even when you’re being selfish.”

With a smirk, Zeke knelt in front of her, taking her hands gently in his own. “And this is why I love _you_ , Pandy. You never miss an opportunity to cut me down to size, even when you’re complimenting me.”

Pandoria laughed as a blush crept across her cheeks. “Someone has to. You have a very big head, my prince.”

Tugging on her hands, Zeke pulled his Blade into a tight embrace as he rose to his feet. “Oh, how you wound me!” They stood like that for a minute, Pandoria’s forehead resting against Zeke’s chest next to the other half of her core crystal. She could just sense the ether ebbing and flowing between them, in sync with their heartbeats. “You’ve completed me since long before…this, you know.” Breaking the silence, Zeke stepped back, one hand at Pandoria’s waist, the other gesturing to his scar. “If I had known the feeling was mutual, I would have said something ages ago.”

“Prince…”

A sly grin crossed Zeke’s face. “Hm. I was just blowing smoke at first, but I’m actually starting to like the sound of a democracy. You might need to get used to calling me Mr. President.”

“Mr. President…yeah, I dunno, it kinda makes you sounds like a boring old man,” Pandoria snickered. Expression softening, she added, “Besides, no matter what your title may be, you’ll always be my prince.”

“Careful with the dramatics there, Pandy,” Zeke tutted, “you’re starting to sound like me.”

Pandoria mustered the most offended look she could, flicking her Driver square in the chest. “Oh, shut up, you!”

With that, he suddenly dipped her low, flashing an infuriatingly handsome smirk at her surprised squeak. “Gladly,” he murmured, passionately kissing the future First Lady of Tantal.

**Author's Note:**

> howdy y'all I'm only like halfway through chapter 8 but I would die for these two losers.
> 
> 3/26: edited a line i realized totally clashed with canon that i caught way too late, whoops


End file.
